Regulation
GPA Midstream Against EPA Collecting Oil and Gas Emissions Data
The GPA Midstream Association has filed comments with the Environmental Protection Agency on its proposed information collection request for oil and natural gas facilities. The EPA is soliciting comments to develop a rulemaking that would regulate methane emissions from existing oil and natura..
Officials Say Mackinac Oil Pipelines Have Too Much Unsupported Space
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan officials said Wednesday that Enbridge Energy Partners had violated a legal requirement by having too much unsupported space along its twin oil pipelines running beneath the environmentally sensitive waterway that links Lakes Michigan and Huron. Enbridge found s..
Standing Rock Sioux Sues Corps of Engineers Over Oil Pipeline Permits
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is suing federal regulators for approving permits for a $3.8 billion pipeline that will move oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Tribal officials filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps issued permits for the..
Canada to Ban Rail Cars Involved in Fiery Crash
MONTREAL (AP) – Canada’s transport minister says the rail car model involved in a fiery crash that killed 47 people in Quebec three years ago will no longer be allowed to transport oil in Canada as of Nov. 1. Marc Garneau said Monday that older tankers, called DOT-111 cars, and a version jacketed w..
Environmentalists Take Aim at TransCanada Pipeline Project
BOSTON (AP) — Environmentalists are again taking aim at the company that proposed the Keystone XL pipeline — this time for another of its projects they fear would send hundreds of supertankers laden with crude oil down the Atlantic coast to refineries in Texas and Louisiana. TransCanada is behind t..
Dakota Access Pipeline Gets Federal Permit Approvals in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Texas company planning a crude oil pipeline that will cut across Iowa received the final federal permit approvals Tuesday needed to proceed with construction. Documents posted by the Iowa Utilities Board show the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved 60 river crossings i..
FERC Issues Draft EIS for PennEast Pipeline Project
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the PennEast Pipeline Project proposed by PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC. The EIS has been prepared in compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council ..
SwRI Wins DOE Funding to Advance Gas-Fired Power Plants
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), of San Antonio, is a member of three teams awarded about $18.2 total funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory to develop technologies advancing power generation. The initiative to improve gas turbine components and super-c..
Delays in Pipeline Projects Costs Canada's Economy, Governments Billions a Year
Barriers to building pipelines that would allow Canadian producers to diversify their sales result in prices that are 20 to 30 per cent below the world price of West Texas Intermediate, costing Canada’s economy and governments billions in foregone revenues, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute,..
SEMS: A Solution to Eliminate or Reduce Accidents, Improve Safety
A worker makes a mistake on an offshore platform that causes equipment damage or maybe even an oil spill. More often than not, the employee will be retrained or fired, but will that solve the circumstances that led to the incident in the first place? In my view, the mistake was the result of a manag..
Big Oil Begins To Worry About Trump’s Wall
Donald Trump’s idea to build a wall along the southern border of the U.S. has been called everything from controversial to harebrained, but—to the likely dismay of some of the oil majors—it’s now officially part of the Republican Party’s platform. As it turns out, the idea has been on the GOP table..
Large Montana Coal Plant to Close 2 Units
A large Montana coal plant serving utility customers across the Pacific Northwest agreed Tuesday to shut down two of its four units by 2022 and limit pollution from the plant until that happens, under a settlement with environmentalists who sued over emission violations. Terms of the partial shutdo..
U.S. Natural Gas Trading Volume Increased 4 Percent in 2015
From 2014 to 2015, U.S. natural gas trading volume increased 4 percent, according to a new report from Cornerstone Research. The report, Characteristics of U.S. Natural Gas Transactions—Insights from FERC Form 552 Submissions, finds that the trading volume measured by Form 552 submissions increased ..
Upgrades to Unsafe Tank Cars Could Take 15 Years, Board Says
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Accident-prone tank cars used to haul crude oil and ethanol by rail could remain in service for another 15 years under federal rules that allow companies to phase in upgrades to the aging fleet, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Transportation offici..
INGAA Seeks to Improve PHMSA Natural Gas Transmission Safety Rule
The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, in comments filed Thursday, sought to improve the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s proposed natural gas transmission safety proposal by offering specific language and suggestions to bolster pipeline safety while mitigating ne..
N.J. Court Dismisses Trespassing Lawsuit Against PennEast
A New Jersey State Superior Court judge on July 7 rejected a lawsuit filed by HALT, an association of New Jersey landowners, and several of its individual members, that sought to prevent the PennEast Pipeline from being built. The $1 billion underground pipeline will span the 118-miles between Dall..
Natural Gas Utilities Express Concern Over PHMSA’s Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines Proposed Rule
In comments submitted today on the Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines Proposed Rule, The American Gas Association (AGA) voiced support for the intended pipeline safety benefits behind many of the proposed modifications to pipeline safety regulations. However, according to AGA and it..
North Dakota Gets $240K for Pipeline Safety Programs
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the state $240,000 for pipeline safety programs. The federal funds were granted to reimburse the state for public safety programs, including inspection and enforcement of pipeline safety regulations, incident investigations and..
Canada Court Overturns Approval of Enbridge Oil Pipeline
TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has overturned the previous government’s controversial approval of a pipeline proposal that would bring oil to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia. In a ruling released Thursday, the court said the former Conservative government did not adequately ..
Alaska Governor Limits Annual Oil-Wealth Checks to $1,000
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, Alaska’s governor on Wednesday cut in half the annual checks that give all residents a share of the state’s oil wealth, but he kept enough money in place to award everyone a $1,000 payout. Gov. Bill Walker’s administration said the chec..
Exxon Mobil Wins a Round in Climate Litigation
DALLAS (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. won an early round Wednesday in its fight against regulators over whether the oil giant covered up what it knew about climate change. The U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general agreed to drop a subpoena for company records. In exchange, Exxon asked a federal court to d..
Congresswoman to Introduce Legislation Strengthening FERC Oversight Of Proposed Pipelines
Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) is expected to introduce legislation to toughen Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) oversight by requiring it to apply more comprehensive procedures to its review of proposed pipeline applications before granting a certificate of public convenience ..
Firm: California Spill Went Undetected Due to Pipeline Work
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — The operator of a pipeline that spewed tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into a Southern California ravine said Friday it didn’t detect the leak because the line was undergoing maintenance. Crimson Pipeline said the remotely monitored line was emptied on Wednesday to ..
Cleanup Underway After California Oil Pipeline Spill
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled Thursday from a pipeline and flowed down a ravine in Southern California but did not reach the ocean, officials said. As much as 29,400 gallons of oil spilled and flowed a quarter- to half-mile from the spill, fire authorities said. ..
DOE Announces $16 Million for 54 Projects to Help Commercialize Promising Energy Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide nearly $16 million in funding to help businesses move promising energy technologies from DOE’s National Laboratories to the marketplace. This first Department-wide round of funding through the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) will support 54 pr..
Pipeline Safety Legislation Becomes Law
President Obama has signed the PIPES Act into law, which: Reauthorizes various programs of the Transportation Department’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration through FY 2019 Requires DOT to develop minimum safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities ..
Judge: US Agency Lacks Authority to Set Rules on Fracking
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A judge ruled Tuesday that federal regulators lack the authority to set rules for hydraulic fracturing, dealing another setback to the Obama administration’s efforts to tighten how fossil fuels are mined. U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl said the Bureau of Land Management ca..
Effects of the Clean Power Plan
The Clean Power Plan (CPP) [1] rule, issued under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at existing fossil-fired electric power plants. EPA estimates that the CPP will reduce CO2 emissions from the po..
Prosecutor: Pacific Gas Ignored Regulations to Cut Costs
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ignored pipeline safety regulations to cut costs and tried to cover up its illegal practices by misleading federal officials investigating a deadly explosion of one of its natural gas pipelines in the San Francisco Bay Area, a prosecutor said Friday as..
Oregon Looks To Ban Crude-Oil-Only Trains Following Derailment and Fire
Oregon transportation officials are now calling for a halt of Union Pacific trains after a derailment on the third of June. Eleven cars from a 96-car train owned by Union Pacific that was hauling crude oil along the border of Oregon and Washington derailed, causing one of the cars to catch fire...
- Trump Aims to Revive 1,200-Mile Keystone XL Pipeline Despite Major Challenges
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- ConocoPhillips Eyes Sale of $1 Billion Permian Assets Amid Marathon Acquisition
- ONEOK Agrees to Sell Interstate Gas Pipelines to DT Midstream for $1.2 Billion
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- U.S. LNG Export Growth Faces Uncertainty as Trump’s Tariff Proposal Looms, Analysts Say
- Tullow Oil on Track to Deliver $600 Million Free Cash Flow Over Next 2 Years
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- GOP Lawmakers Slam New York for Blocking $500 Million Pipeline Project
- Texas Oil Company Challenges $250 Million Insurance Collateral Demand for Pipeline, Offshore Operations
